In order to get approval of the second credit assistance programme to Greece, the government of Greece has to fulfil three conditions, was announced by finance ministers of the eurozone countries. The deadline to meet these three conditions is one week.

In order to get approval for the second credit assistance programme to Greece, the government of Greece has to fulfil three conditions, Deutsche Welle writes.

First, the parliament of Greece has to approve all agreements which were achieved during the government’s negotiations with three international creditors – European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Second, the agreement on the economy programme must be signed by all three parties included in the governing coalition of Greece. Third, Athens must find a possibility to save 325 million euro in the budget of 2012. This was announced on Thursday, February 9, by the head of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker.

Moreover, during the implementation of the second crediting programme the eurozone governments are going to tighten control over the fulfilment of the terms agreed.

This week went by under context of Russian sanctions on certain sectors of Latvia’s national economy. Losses were counted and solutions were sought by dairy farmers, fish processing entrepreneurs and florists.

Latvian Competition Council has decided to punish 11 companies that had coordinated their offers with competitors in the timber procurement project launched by Latvia’s State Forests. The total size of the fine applied to companies is EUR 70,003.44.

In June 2015, Janis Vitolins, who coordinates balanced activities in the field of balanced environmental development, investment attraction and supervision over the Environmental Monitoring Office in Ventspils City Council, sued Ventspils activist and defender of the city’s residents’ rights Ivars Jansons. It is worth noting that Vitolins has been the 1st deputy of Ventspils City Council Chairperson and 1st deputy of Ventspils Freeport Chairperson since 1996.

Latvian Cabinet of Ministers supported amendments to the Resident Register Law. These amendments provide for new requirements for the provision of personal codes. From now on, it will no longer be tied to birth date.

Dry-bulk operator shipper Lithuanian Shipping Company has been so deep in trouble that Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius was forced to cut short his vacation and rush to Vilnius to salvage the bankrupting company’s seamen stranded in ports scattered across the globe –in the United States, Portugal, Africa and Italy.

The first automatic entry fee collection stations have been installed at Priedaine checkpoint. These are the first test models. The resort city’s authorities plan to introduce a fully-automated entry fee collection system in the next couple of years.

In the remote Indian Ocean island of Reunion, debris has been washed up on July 29 that, according to specialists, could be part of the Malaysian passenger plane that in March 2014 vanished with 239 people on board.

On 30 July, National Electronic Media Council unanimously voted in favour of applying a fine on Latvijas Radio – EUR 8,000 – for voicing offensive expressions during a broadcast of "Pilnīgs Vakars", a programme of Latvijas Radio 5 - Pieci.lv radio.

With the UN Security Council on July 29 voting on a resolution for the establishment of an international tribunal for trying perpetrators of the downing of MH17 passenger plane, Russia has used its veto much to international condemnation.

Last week in Vilnius, a sensitive symbol of the Soviet rule – statues of the Green Bridge – was removed. The long-prepared and much-discussed step was received without protests from the Russian-speaking community, unlike the relocation of the Bronze Soldier in Estonia in 2007.

Even though all current coalition partners say they are not interested in government change, politicians allow for the possibility unofficially, adding that there will not likely be any changes in the coming month.

The majority of Latvians have gotten used to euro; they are satisfied with euro design, quality and security. They also note benefits with using euro – no need to exchange currency when travelling and relatively similar prices. At the same time, however, residents complain about the size of change.

The total volume of deposits in the banking sector has declined by 1.2% or EUR 271 million, according to information compiled by the Finance and Capital Market Commission about results of Latvia’s banks in June 2015.

Danish-Swedish Arla Foods concern could be a potential owner of Jelgava’s Latvijas piens. This company was mentioned during talks regarding the sale of 55.36% of shares in Latvijas piens, according to unofficial information from LETA.

On 28 August, Saeima Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee announced the opening for submission of candidates for the post of Chairman of the National Electronic Media Council. Submission of candidates will remain open until 28 August.

Thanks to enhanced bribery-combating measures, Zemgale region’s State Police have managed to arrest a total of 66 individuals for bribery in the first half of 2015, as reported by Zemgale administration of State Police.